C.C. Sabathia Costs Himself $500K By Getting Ejecting For Throwing At Jesus Sucre

There wasn’t any reason for Thursday’s game between the Yankees and the Rays to get heated. The Yankees are firmly in a postseason spot and the Rays had a better than expected season, but were already mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

Nonetheless, the unwritten rules of baseball reared their ugly heads after Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia hit Rays first baseman Jake Bauers in the wrist in the fifth inning. It was probably an accident, but that didn’t stop Rays pitcher Andrew Kittredge from throwing behind Austin Romine in the next inning. We’re not expert lip readers, but it looks like Romine asks Rays catcher Jesus Sucre “was that on purpose?”

After that incident, the Yankees scored four more runs to take an 11-0 lead. So perhaps they would just say “scoreboard” and let the beef die right there. However, Sabathia is an old-school guy and started the bottom of the sixth by plunking Sucre right in the leg with a 92 mph fastball. He was immediately ejected and the dugouts cleared.

And also Aaron Judge facing off against the entire Rays’ bullpen, as they decide that maybe they don’t want to get physical with a man who is 6’7″ and 280-pounds.

CC Sabathia wanting to defend Austin Romine (of all people!) so badly he cost himself $500,000 is good, but the best part was undoubtedly Aaron Judge immediately facing off with the entire Rays bullpen. pic.twitter.com/m0i6vYrkcw

So what about the $500K? Well, it turns out Sabathia has a bonus in his contract that pays him an extra $500,000 if he reaches 155 innings pitched. He was ejected with 153 on the season, and likely could have managed to go the sixth and seventh in a New York blowout. The Yankees only have three games left, all against the Boston Red Sox, so Sabathia won’t have time to make another start. It’s possible the team could try to get him those innings in a relief appearance on Sunday, but that doesn’t seem like something a playoff team would fool around with.

On the other hand, he’s made over $240 million in his 18 years in the big leagues, so perhaps it was worth $500,000 to punk the Rays one last time.